Two large shadowy figures ran across the rooftops of Tokyo. They were big, round and bulky. A patrol of police vehicles chased after them from the streets below.
The two figures weren't actually large and round though. It was Murakami Kouta and his cousin, Kamimura Taku. The roundness came from the huge loads of cash that they were carrying on their backs.
Not too long ago, Kouta, Taku, and Akane had invaded one of Red Factor's underground safe houses. They were looking for a shard, but instead found billions of yen in cash, stashed away in a vault. They could've gone in all stealthy-like, get in, get out. But Murakami Kouta didn't do things that way.
Kouta led the attack, and with the help of Taku and Akane, they demolished everyone inside and got away as billionaires.
Taku and Kouta had smiles on their faces as the blaring sirens of cop cars and the yelling of angry police men filled the silence in the air.
"How much do you think we got away with?" Taku asked Kouta.
"I dunno, but I know exactly what it's going to!"
"What?"
"Rebuilding my grandfather's warehouse!"
Over the last two years, Kouta had become somewhat more human emotionally. His reunion with Taku rekindled something within his heart that made him feel like less of a demon.
Kouta's battle with Abe Shinya likely also played a part in it. After facing the man who killed his family, somehow, Kouta isn't too troubled knowing that he's still alive. Somewhere deep inside, Kouta knows that he'll get his chance. His chance to rightfully avenge them.
Kouta and Taku eventually escaped the police and made it back to the hideout. The both of them walked to the door with the huge bags of cash slung on their backs.
Akane and Yumi rolled in next on the motorcycle.
Kouta looked back. "Oh, Akane, Yumi, how did it go?"
Yumi hopped off the bike and held up the silver briefcase. "I've got one!"
Akane got off as well and started walking her motorcycle towards the door. "We only got away because of my invisibility vector. We ran into a guy from Byakuren. He looked strong."
"Byakuren..." Kouta thought on it. There were a lot of new gangs and groups because of Abe Shinya's defeat, but Byakuren was probably one of the toughest to run into.
"You're lucky there was only one of them. It would've meant trouble if there were more." Kouta said.
Saki walked up the lot. She held a silver case in her hand. "I got a shard, it was pretty easy honestly."
Kouta nodded. He slid open the warehouse door. His nose immediately twitched.
"Someone's here."
Everyone frantically looked around the warehouse, but they didn't see anyone. That was, until a man walked into the storage room from the back.
"Oh, you guys are here, wonderful."
Kouta frowned. "Who-"
"Who am I?" the man interrupted. "Why, isn't that obvious?"
Everyone was dumbfounded. It wasn't obvious at all.
For starters, he was foreign. He clearly wasn't Japanese, judging from his caramel-colored skin tone and black hair. He was dressed oddly too, with gold earring hoops, a silk tan robe that was tied at the waist with a green sash, and a gold necklace that held several sapphires within it. And above all, he was barefoot.
Kouta shook his head. "Nope, never seen you before in my life."
Everyone else agreed.
The man seemed to be offended by that. He gasped. "How could you say something like that?! After all this way I came...!" He closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair.
"Your name?" Saki asked.
"My name is Melqart dear. I am-" He froze mid sentence. He'd locked eyes with Saki.
Almost immediately, Melqart was up close with Saki, stroking the side of her face. "Oh my... you really are such a striking beauty... like the evening sun contrasting with the still waters of the Nile River. Tis a shame, for I am celibate."
Saki blushed. She was stiff with shock. But everyone had the same thought—
"He's fast!!"
Kouta turned around. "Why are you here... Melqart?"
Melqart patted Saki lightly on the cheek. He faced Kouta. He held up a silver briefcase. "I'm here because of this."
Saki looked at her hands. "When did he...?!"
"The shards?" Kouta asked.
"Precisely. You see, to make a long story short, your grandfather, Jikai, was a great man. Very great man. A long time ago, someone planned on using the Great Spirit Orb to revive the Great Spirit Methuselah. They failed, only because Jikai destroyed the Orb in order to protect the world. But you see, the Great Spirit Orb can not be vaporized into thin air. It simply shattered into forty-two pieces, or shards. That's what this is. Very dangerous. Not good. Tis a no-no."
"Methuselah? Who's that?" Taku asked.
Melqart looked at him. "Great Spirit. Possibly the greatest of all spirits. The Great Spirit Orb has the power to summon him to this planet."
"So it's a yokai?" Saki asked.
"What is a yokai?" Melqart asked back.
"Wait, you don't know what yokai are? They're like the strongest spirits. Like the twelve Yokai Kings." Kouta said.
Melqart laughed. "Ohh, I understand now. Jikai told me about this years ago. Where I come from, we call all spirits as they are, spirits. And your Yokai Kings only apply to Japan. They are irrelevant in other parts of the world."
Saki put her hand to her chin. "So spirits do exist in other countries..."
Kouta looked Melqart up and down. "How do you know my grandpa? You don't look much older than the rest of us."
Melqart laughed again. "I'm nearly three thousand years old. I'm not human like the rest of you." He started walking towards the large crates in the back, still laughing. He held two silver cases in his hand.
Yumi checked for hers. "How is he doing that?!"
Melqart sat on top of a crate. He opened one of the cases to reveal a glowing magenta-colored shard. "Ah, what a beauty."
"Wait!!" Kouta yelled. "How do I know we can trust you with that?!"
Melqart stared at him blankly. "Trust me or not, all of you put together wouldn't be able to stop me so what's the issue here?"
Kouta clenched his fists. He took a step forward.
Melqart sighed. "There's no need for such hostility. Here, this was Jikai's. Consider it a token of our partnership." He snapped his fingers. A wooden necklace fell into his hand. It consisted of wooden beads in a pattern of five beads, then one disc with a tan colored face that was decorated with three black magatama. There were five discs.
Melqart tossed it to Kouta.
"This is...!" Kouta marveled at the necklace.
"What is it?" Taku asked him.
Kouta remembered a conversation he had with Usako Ban.
< "Your grandfather. Murakami Jikai. He left you a necklace behind am I right?"
Kouta frowned. "A necklace? What are you on about?"
Ban's eyes narrowed. "There's no way that you can't know about the necklace..." >
"I think... this is the necklace Ban wanted. But why? Is there something special about it?"
Melqart had the two shards floating around in his hand. "I wouldn't know. You should go ask the monks. It's not in my area of expertise. I was told to give it to whoever I saw fit to have it. You're Jikai's grandson right? There."
Kouta stared at the necklace. It was the only thing he had left of his grandfather other than the warehouse.
Yumi peered at the necklace as well. "Your grandpa must have been a really important man."
Kouta nodded. "Yeah..."
Saki pointed at Melqart. "Still, why do you get to keep the shards?"
Melqart looked at her calmly. "Oh, didn't I say? I'm the original owner of the Great Spirit Orb. It's mine."
Taku crossed his arms. "What are you, God?"
Melqart continued playing with the shards. He chuckled. "That's a good guess. You're not too far off..."
Kouta was too invested in his grandfather's necklace to care. It was something that tied him back to his family. "I'm gonna take this to the monks."
Yumi gave him a concerned look. "The same monks that Hasegawa took you to see?"
Kouta nodded. "They have to know something." He turned to the door.
"Wait, you're leaving now?!" Yumi exclaimed.
"Yeah, why not?"
"You're just going to leave us with this suspicious three thousand year-old man?"
Kouta nodded again. "Grandpa trusted him, so I trust him."
"Yeah, but how do you know that he wasn't your grandfather's enemy?" Akane chimed in.
Kouta put the necklace on. "A hunch."
Saki groaned. "I miss the dark and brooding Kouta who didn't trust a soul."
Kouta ignored her remark. He slid open the door. "Taku's in charge while I'm gone, I won't be too long." He left and shut the door behind him.
Saki, Yumi, Akane, and Taku all looked up at Melqart. He playfully waved their way, his ocean blue eyes glowing ever so slightly in the shadows.